2009-12-27

The present challenge is to spread out the last three weeks and the final giant box over as long a time as possible. Also, we have a bunch of stuff in the freezer. So, first a tentative grouping of recent produce to be sure we use the oldest stuff first; then the freezer inventory; then a list of stuff I want to make and not forget about!

I think this is what we ate about two months ago. I tried looking through past foodlist blogposts. Anyway, it is adapted from the excellent 660 Curries— and if it is not the same dish, I am certain it is delicious.

Potatoes with Fresh Coconut and Chiles, Thenga Urulikazhangu

The coconut in this dish provides a sweet balance to the pungent chiles, especially because it is added toward the end. for an even sweeter alternative, use sweet potatoes instead of half or all of the white ones.

heat oil in a pan over med high heat. add the mustard seeds, cover, and cook until the seeds have stopped popping, about 30 seconds. Add the urad dal and cook until they are golden, about 15 or 20 sec. Immediately add the dried chiles, asafetida, and turmeric. Stir-fry until the chiles smell pungent and are slightly blackened, about 10 sec.

Add potatoes, 2 cups water, and the cilantro, salt, curry leaves, and fresh chiles. bring to a boil then reduce heat to med-low, cover, and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 8 to 10 min.

Raise the heat to med-high, uncover the pan, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens slightly, 3 to 5 min. Some of the potato pieces will disintegrate.

2009-11-17

The internets are abuzz over steam scrambled eggs. Despite a panoply of marvelous looking cured meat dishes at Gottino, this entirely uninteresting preparation caught people's attention. Really, people, you could have house-made porchetta, calabrese, or pork terrine or tonnato, but instead you would pay $9 for scrambled eggs? Don't be dumb.

I tried this steam-scrambling technique today. I would only make it again if I were in a crazy rush and really wanted to eat eggs (this joint probability is very small). We already know from Daniel Boulud how to make perfect scrambled eggs. It involves controlled low heat and constant stirring (the double boiler is great, but I usually use a skillet over medium-low heat). The steam wand is too hot, but it does provide the benefit of the entire quantity of egg coagulating instantly from the pressure-stirring, at the moment the mixture reaches 68°C. The butter is almost magically emulsified, but the whole process is too fast. I should have had a soft boiled egg with my last bagel. If I were in New York for brunch, I would love to go to Gottino, but there's no fuckin' way I would order scrambled eggs.

The typeface you have chosen for the citation information on your pdf cover sheets is unforgivably awful. Its roman characters are crudely and thoughtlessly drawn by someone with no evident qualifications or other typographic experience. Though it boasts a wide-ranging character set, I doubt it is the most complete font in existence. I would urge you to consider other fine, even free options from SIL and others, such as those shown below.

The most hideous glyph in your unfortunate font is the capital J, which is used disporportionately often in the texts where you have employed it (most journals name themselves Journal of . Or, Tournal of x. I can’t distinguish them in Code2000. By the way, it is now 2009. Browsers support Unicode. Competent developers all use UTF-8. We can even embed fonts in web pages with css! Why do you torture our eyes with this heinous insult to every type designer living or dead?

The figure below shows what I find the be the most offensive characters in Code2000. Clearly the JT is far and away the most odious. The diddle on the top of the 2 makes no sense, the 9 is horribly awkwardly topheavy, the g is misshapen and glaring at me like a quadriplegic rhinoceros, and the r and f both suffer gross errors of proportion. The huge flat crossbar of the f for some reason extends beyond the elephantine serif. The ball at the end of the r and f are also apparently mutant spawn of unrelated origins.
Here are several alternatives, all free opentype faces with reasonably complete character sets: Fontin, Gentium, Droid Serif, and venerable Times New Roman.

Update, 2010-01-24: The web page for Code2000 appears to no longer exist. Here’s wikipedia. Can this augur the death of the font at Jstor?

2009-09-17

This is a totally banal tale of waste associated with private insurance schemes. Thankfully I do not have a horror story, dropped coverage, or preëxisting condition, but the inane interactions recounted below relate to the vast waste of “administrative costs” that private insurers generate.

ID and registration

WU switched back to Aetna Chickering health insurance, after a few years ago switching to Cigna through some outfit called Great West. These switches alone are incredibly wasteful, but users are shielded from those costs. Trying to stay on top of things, I wanted to check that I could find a doctor, my ID card if necessary, etc. online, if I needed to. The plan web site promised that the Aetna Navigator could help me with all of these things. It told me to use my WU ID to register, but that didn’t work. When I called customer service, they first asked if I was entering it “with four zeros in front of it.” (The site itself says, “In the field titled "Primary Member's ID Number" enter your 5 or 6 digit WUSTL Student ID #, NOT your Social Security number.”) When that didn’t work, the customer service representative told me to try again in “about 24 hours” and I would be “in the system.” This worked the next day (with the zero-padding; I did not first try without). But, I couldn’t find anything like an ID card to print, or address to update.

I called customer service. This time they claimed that I had been sent an ID card and they asked me to confirm my address. They asked this as if it were a password, so I told them my current address, office address, and, for good measure, address of three years ago. I failed the test: none was the “correct” one according to my new insurer. Customer service was wary now, but in medical-administrator world I had to be legit since I knew my date of birth. What address did they have on file? One Brookings Drive – no campus box, no department: the address for all of Washington University. Well, that explains why I never got an ID card. Like most people, I would prefer my health related correspondence go to my home rather than my office, so I gave them my correct address, which of course is the same one the graduate school has on file as my primary address.

Vision

I decided next to tackle an eye exam – I’m out of contacts and it is nice to have a current prescription. My plan advertises that although it does not include vision coverage, it does offer a considerable discount.
The web site explaining the discount program was vague, so I called customer service to ask what I needed to do to get the discount. “Just give them your member ID that starts with a W.” ”I can find that online through the navigator thing?” “Yes.”
I logged on to the ‘Navigator’ but the only temporary card and ID listed is the dental one which does start with a W but is not the same.

When I called to make the appointment (and one was available within two days, which is nice) he asked for my ID number and Group number. I didn’t have a group number since I never got an ID card and couldn’t print one. So I gave him the customer service number from the page about the vision discount, and he said he would verify my coverage. He called back later and said they got an error when using my number. I apologized for their wasting his time, and gave him another customer service number. He called back, successful this time, and confirmed my appointment.

Dental

No dental coverage was offered the past two years, so this year, presented the option of paying $114 for a plan that includes at least two cleanings, I enrolled. (It is worth noting that Scott’s plan has always included dental at no extra charge and ours never has. A few years ago, last with Aetna, we had the option to pay $40 to join the negotiated discount program Vital Savings, now included by default, but no option for actual dental coverage.)

Annoyingly before I could pay for insurance I had to select a dentist from their list. So I picked the first one and figured I would change it after I actually did some research and perhaps even made an appointment with one. Of course, the dentist I had picked from the top of the list received some horrible feedback via the internets, so I wanted to change to another one.

Also, I can’t make an appointment until the office receives the ‘roster’ from Aetna, which they explain happens around the beginning of the month, so call again in October. I looked into it later that day, and when I called to change it, I was told I was not yet “in the system” and to try again the next day, or easier still, that I could do that online too. Indeed there is a button to make changes on the list page but when you click it, it warns, “Important: This feature should NOT be used for requesting a change in your primary care physician (PCP) or dentist (PCD). If you wish to change your current PCP/PCD, please use the Change PCP link located on the Details page for each provider.” (Said link opens the same page with the same warning.) I called customer service, explained the situation, and requested the change.

The next day, I got an email confirming my “change” of primary care dentist, but now it warned, “If you chose your dentist after the fifteenth of the month, your selection will be effective on the first of the second month following your selection. For example, if you sent us your selection on August 20, you can begin seeing your dentist on October 1.” Well, that’s unacceptable. While I’m ok with waiting for the “roster” system in October, two months is absurd, and I would have been more careful in making my first choice if there had been any indication at all that changing could even possibly delay my coverage by two months. They confirmed that I will in fact be on the roster in October, so hopefully I’ll get an appointment then.

2009-07-21

But nothing about it has really changed. I had to go there to print my Polmethposter (ugh) and figured I might as well have a batch of cards my name & email on them. I dropped my files on a CD, biked up to the nearest friendly Fedex Office where I had the following exchange.

Me: (holding CD) I have two files on this CD I need printed — one is business cards that I need a few of on cardstock and cut; the other is a large format, 24×36.

Kara: Where are the files?

Me: On this CD.

Kara inserts the CD on her computer and clicks several times. I assume she has a file-browser window open and is viewing the contents of the CD.

2009-07-20

one of the indian ‘dumpling’ recipes (with yogurt, maybe tomato paste) where instead of besan dumplings you use up the TJ meatless balls. there are several recipes near the end of the legumes chapter and in the appetizer section.

sautéed chard (garlic, balsamic) ; and the grilled tofu thing i bought on sale at wf quickly cooked with garlic and parsley as if it were chicken.

something indian with cabbage; raita or other cucumber salad (there are at least 2 giant cucumbers)

2009-07-18

Inspired by this recipe and this cook's illustrated one with blueberries. I cannot believe that the grated frozen butter trick was new to me, but it is perfect for scones. These have white and dark chocolate, half whole wheat flour, and lots of fresh cherries.

Ingredients

2¼ cups flour

½ cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 egg

¾ cup milk

a stick of butter, frozen

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup of fresh cherries

½ cup chocolate

Method

Grate most of the stick of butter. Half a stick is ok, 6tsp is better, 7 is better. Return the grated butter to the freezer.

Pit and chop the cherries. Stick them in the freezer too.

Chop the chocolate into chunks. Or just use chocolate chips.

Combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, then stir together to combine roughly. Add the butter and stir some more. Last, add the frozen or part-frozen cherries and the chocolate. Avoid overworking the dough, but fold it together a few times on a floured surface and then pat it into a rectangle.

2009-07-12

A long while ago Nick asked for my input regarding chocolate mousse. I haven’t made it in quite some time but for years my recipe has been this very rich and creamy version from the French Cordon Bleu book Desserts.

2009-04-02

We went by the always-strange Égide yesterday to get paid, and then walked back down Bl Villette / Ménilmontant, through the Couronnes Wednesday market. Again like all farmer’s markets the world over, it’s hit or miss. This time, though, we found a true gem: a farm 30km south of Paris, who come to two markets. Their card: “Nous vous proposons des légumes de plain champs et de nombreuses variétés de légumes oubliés ou traditionnels suivant les saisons.” And indeed they are true to their word.

I first spotted the variegated lettuce and baby beet greens. Then I saw the young garlic. It has formed a head but the top was still soft enough to slice like a leek and add to my ma po tofu. Finally, I saw their black greenhouse tomatoes. Black crimean/krim are among my favorites for their perfect balance of sweet and tangy, and when perfectly ripe, an exquisite balance of firmness and juiciness. When past ripe, they still make a nice sauce, instead of turning mealy.

While I was fully occupied by the veggies, Sara and Heather whisked on through the market; Sara was excited to find fresh hummus sold by the 100g, and Heather was ogling some cheese. Then I showed Sara a perfectly ripe black greenhouse tomato. So we went back to get some. The farmer laughed at me a little, asked where we were from, said that the vegetables in the USA weren’t very good. I said the vegetables in the rest of the market weren’t very good compared to theirs, and that you only had to know how to find the good stuff. And then we were on our way.

We stopped in an Asian store and I had to rearrange my purchases in my bag. It was then that I tasted the baby beet greens (pousses de betterave, beet shoots).

It was the fullest expression of a beet plant. The earthy redness, the green vegetalness, the sweet sugars that would eventually collect in the root — the beet shoots were as good as Vicki’s arugula, which still ranks as the best I have ever had. These had clearly been picked within a day. Sara and Heather had to have some. So we went back.

When I told the farmer we’d all just been astonished by the beet shoots were, she nodded knowingly, and insisted that we try some arugula and Sara took a mixed bag (some 2.50€ I think, same price as Vicki).

We asked where else they sell, and they are only at two markets (the other in the 12e or 14e, this is definitely the easiest). I’ll be going back every Wednesday.

2009-03-23

I couldn’t find a list anywhere of the Pierre Hermé macaron flavors from the other day, and they do change a lot. Here it is though, complete with dumb trademarked names. I added a few acronym tags for mouse-over English words.

2009-02-27

The Paris marchés alimentaires are great, but certainly no more so than a typical American farmer's market. They are, as anywhere, dominated by distributors who sell the same stuff you'd find in the neighborhood produce-shop (these are what's shockingly absent from American streets). A few of these have connections to producers or suppliers of unique products. For example, most have peruvian mangoes and bizarrely, avocados are 3 or 4 for 2€ , definitely a good deal. One vendor had these, plus the only unwaxed Italian lemons in the entire market! (Everyone else's were neither.) Some sell olives out of giant tubs, others out of smaller vessels with their own flavoring additives.

Then there are the few producers. The scale of Belleville/Père Lachaise (they abut one another) is approximately the same as Soulard in St Louis, but all stretched out in the middle of the boulevard. There is one place with yellow turnips; only one with interesting colors of carrots; one or two with unwashed mâche; one grower of multitudinous varieties of apples (I got a selection the other day, one was really not good, one was excellent so far)… but the ratio of actual producers to distributors appears to be approximately identical to Soulard.

There are a few bakeries, creameries, butchers – I haven’t begun to investigate many of these, but none looks great. I bought a camembert au calvados from one of the smaller, more focused fromagers; he also had free-range eggs (in contrast to the palettes of mass-produced ones elsewhere). From my more or less regular bakery (still on the fence about them, really) I got a small bread for the train to Amsterdam tomorrow – so apple, camembert, and boule de campagne.

There are several biologique markets, which I expect will be more like Green City. The St-Quentin covered market has some nice looking butchers. My charcuterie allegience is already in the direction of the place by Voltaire, at least for pork products.

As if one needed another reason to avoid store-bought tomatoes out of season. From Gourmet:

Immokalee is the tomato capital of the United States. Between December and May, as much as 90 percent of the fresh domestic tomatoes we eat come from south Florida, and Immokalee is home to one of the area’s largest communities of farmworkers. According to Douglas Molloy, the chief assistant U.S. attorney based in Fort Myers, Immokalee has another claim to fame: It is “ground zero for modern slavery.”

2009-02-25

And so we’re in a space where the people talking about food are the people who are least suited to getting others to talk about food. Being a professional culinary elitist doesn’t make you wrong. But it might make you ineffective. On the other hand, if Waters wasn’t writing these op-eds, who would be?

2009-02-14

2009-01-23

A chi square distribution with ν degrees of freedom is a gamma distribution with shape ν/2 and scale 2. So in a mathematical sense, a chi square distribution “is a” gamma distribution. But should a class representing a chi square distribution inherit from a class representing a gamma distribution? The surprising answer is “no.” A rule called the “Lyskov Substitution Principle” (LSP) says this is a bad idea.

2009-01-22

We had a bunch of cream cheese icing left over from having made Obama-logo cookies for inauguration day. I quickly designated it for cinnamon rolls and asked Jon, an excellent baker, what his favorite recipe for such a dough would be. He said he uses Reinhart’s 50% hydrated brioche dough and gave me approximate volumes since I lack a suitable scale. The dough was a very wet mess. But, it is stuffed with deliciousness, and when covered with icing, you would never know how ugly it is underneath. And, if Ugly Dolls can achieve such popularity, why not ugly cinnamon rolls?